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Yesterday word came out that Dee Gordon tested positive for PEDs. Today this topic will headline nearly every sports news broadcast. It will be the one thing that every baseball player will be asked about interviews and every broadcaster will mention at some point during a game. Which begs the question, how far has baseball really come in improving its image?

Baseball has tried to put PEDs in its rear view mirror, but with the loveable Dee Gordon now being caught cheating will the game be able to say it is clean? We may have thought we were past the big name sluggers getting popped, but now we see the speedy little guy getting caught. It makes us question every player in the league who has a turning point in their career. If Gordon was cheating who else is and has yet to be found out?

I know for me I will look at players breaking out differently now, even if I don't want to. When a guy that nearly everybody claims to like is caught using PEDs it just make me rethink how clean the game of baseball really is. And makes you wonder who will be next?

Should we be worried about these players?

​When Kris Bryant tore up Spring Training in 2015 and then was sent down to AAA there was a collective scream from Cubs fans, “WHY?”, the answer was service time. Cubs management wanted to make sure they kept him in the minors long enough to gain an extra year of control. To the casual fan the term service time is a foreign concept, honestly even to an avid fan like me it was somewhat of an unknown. Again, to be honest, even though it was still somewhat of a mystery to me I really didn’t care until I picked up Trea Turner in my fantasy baseball league.

You see Trea Turner was sent down to AAA after an impressive spring. Instead of having Turner start the season where he finished 2015 the Nationals decided to go with Danny Espinosa as their shortstop. Since being demoted Turner has gone 14 for 33 (.424/.525/.606) with 4 stolen bases. Meanwhile his major league counterpart is hitting .161/.289/.483.

After seeing what Turner has done and adding him to my fantasy roster I had to get a better understanding as to when he could come up and not have to worry about service time. What If found is that in order for a player to receive one year of service they must spend 172 days on the 25 man roster or major league DL. To complicate it more the average major league season is 183 days. Confused yet, wait it is more complicated than that. A player can only gain a maximum of 172 days in any one season, so even if a player comes up on day one they still only get credit for 172 days.

Now that we understand that let’s turn to the number of years a player must have credited before they can become a free agent. A player becomes a free agent after six full years of service, a key component of that statement is full years. If on the last day of the season a player has received 5 years and 171 days of service they are one day short of six full years and therefore would not be a free agent until the year after their next season. Major league clubs are very smart and because they know how to play the service time game they will calculate the day they can promote a player and have that player only be credited 171 days of service time and therefore receive an extra year of control.

Let’s get to the example that I care about, Trea Turner. In 2015 Turner received 45 days of service time. If you subtract that from the 172 days he needs to reach one year of service time you get 127 days. Based on my calculations that means that the Nationals would have to wait until roughly May 28th, 2016 in order to bring him up and not have him receive a year of service time.

Now the question is can Trea force the hands of management by playing his way to the majors or will the Nationals hold out in order to keep their future shortstop under control for that extra year. Personally I am hoping he forces their hand.

If this post helped you better understand service time let us know, we would love to hear your feedback.

Does OdoR Stink?

Yesterday the best pitcher in baseball, threw the best game I saw on Opening Day, but for most of the Dodgers faithful it was as if it didn't happen. Why? Because most Dodgers fans still can't watch their team's games.

As the season progresses Dodger fans will miss out on Puig bat flips, Pederson bombs and Kershaw's mastery of the strikezone. All because a cable company has all the power and the fans are powerless.

​A.J. Ellis yesterday even spoke out about this saying "It's discouraging for a lot of reasons". Dodger fans are missing out not only on great play on the field, but also on the final season of the greatest baseball announcer in history, Vin Scully.

At what point does MLB step in and say enough is enough? Clearly what is happening is not what is best for the game. I am no legal expert, but if this were the NFL I would have to think the commissioner would step in to protect the shield.

​Guess we will all just have to wait and see.

should MLb step in?

Two announcements came out this week involving the Colorado Rockies that have some people wondering what happens next, me included. Earlier this week the team announced that Trevor Story would be their opening day shortstop. Then just a few days later it was announced that the charges against former super shortstop Jose Reyes were being dropped. That doesn't mean that Reyes is free and clear as it is widely speculated that he will still face a suspension in the range of 30 days, similar to Aroldis Chapman's suspension.

If Reyes is suspended and when he is cleared to play the Rockies will have a dilemma on their hands. Who is their everyday shortstop? On one hand they have the high priced, probably over priced at this point in his career, Jose Reyes. There are two more years left on his contract at $22,000,000 per year, with an option for a third year. That is a lot of money for a bench player. So, they pretty much have to play Reyes over Trevor Story, but how will this effect what clearly appears to be the future of the team at that position?

Being named the starting shortstop had to be a huge confidence boost for the 23 year old Story, however could the future benching or demotion of him have the opposite effect? Could it send him in to a downward spiral of lack of confidence that he never climbs out of? Only time will tell.

I think the bigger question is why did a clearly rebuilding team even bother getting Reyes in the first place? Why spend $44,000,000 plus on a 32 year old placeholder for a team that no one thinks will be competitive? Couldn't they have traded for younger potential up and comers and find a cheap shortstop to hold down the position till they were ready for the Story to begin?

All and all the Story/Reyes tail is far from over and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.